The Ways of Falling
by swishandflickwit
Summary: The story of the eight different ways she fell. . . And the seven other ways he was there to catch her. DHr.


**Chapter One**

**Against Gravity. . . And Mewranges**

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Falling.

_Verb. _

_To drop freely under the influence of gravity._

The first time she fell, she fell from a tree.

When Hermione Granger was ten years old, she found a cat.

It was orange. But at first glance you couldn't tell because it was absolutely covered in grime and filth, one of its eyes popped out of its socket and dripping a clear, liquid substance. Moreover, it was stuck, between two rocks hidden behind the bushes of her local park.

This was how she found it. She heard it mewling painfully just as she was about to retrieve a ball she'd been playing with that she had accidentally kicked into said bushes. And Hermione being, well, _Hermione_, immediately located the source of the crying. Upon arriving at the scene, she instantly took pity on the grotesque creature and took it home.

She named it – which turned out to be _he – _Mewranges, and she adored him to pieces (quite literally, seeing as it had only one eye and half a tail from being yanked out of the rocks) and from the moment she took him home, bathed and washed him, then incessantly pleaded to her parents to keep him, they were inseparable. Mewranges instantly sparked her love for cats.

But one day. . . Mewranges happened to stray. She noticed her cat had been missing from his perch on the windowsill by her living room and it set her heart ablaze.

"Mewranges, where could you be?"

Young Hermione looked high and low, inside her house, looking at every place she thought he could possibly be in, then at every place he could be not. She would've have asked for the assistance of her parents only, they were in their practice - being dentists and all - and she couldn't apply for her nanny's aid for she was fast asleep on the couch. She was about to burst into crocodile tears as she returned to her living room when she noticed something she, quite stupidly, hadn't noticed before.

The window, Of the sill he frequently lazed upon, was open.

Realization dawned on her and instantly she was on her feet, running outside. And there she found him.

Eye – popped, half – tailed and hair on end, Mewranges mewled, as loud as the day she found him, terrified at the prospect of being high up on a tree branch with absolutely no clue to get down.

Alternatively, Hermione found that the only way to retrieve him was to go up, and how else was she to go up than by climbing the blasted tree?

So up she went until she reached Mewranges' branch and only when he was tucked safely in her arms and purring against her chest did she think, how am I going to get down now?

It was an excellent question.

Her hands were occupied with Mewranges, who wasn't the small cat he was when she first found him, and it wasn't like she could jump either. Her climb was quite far up and it was a miracle in itself, she thought, that she could even climb that high.

She decided then, that she'd just have to use one hand to cling on to the branches on the way down and she'd have to let her feet and instinct guide her to the ground. It was even going ever so well the first three, four steps. However, like in all great tree climbs downwards, the fifth branch snapped underneath her weight before she even had a chance to retrieve her foot and she spiraled downwards to the ground with Mewranges still in her arms.

Thankfully, she was unharmed despite a few bruises and scratches. Her nanny, finally waking up from her sleep upon hearing her scream, immediately ran to her aid.

"What on earth happened to you, 'Mione!" She exclaimed (though you think it was rather obvious what happened), fear running through her at the thought of the only child of the Grangers possibly hurt and bleeding.

Tears escaped her eyes as shock took hold of her body. She still lay on the ground, the nanny still not touching her (she was absolutely feeling _daft_ at the moment, obviously).

"I – I, _fell_." She muttered incredulously, wincing when Mewranges hopped onto her belly. This finally drove the nanny to action who had the actual sense – at the moment – to help her to her feet and get her cleaned up.

Mewranges looked on with concern etched into his one eye.

Cause though he sparked Hermione's love for cats, it was he who also sparked her hatred for falling.

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**A/N: Critic or not by all means, do criticize. I need all the help I can get if I am to try this whole writing thing out again, after at least two years on hiatus. As you can see, those who have previously put me in their alerts, I've changed my name. Formerly known as Gryfferin Princess, presently known as Delightfully Enticing.**

**As you can see this one didn't get much action. But introductions are always the most boring. This will be a Dramione, if you haven't pointed it out. Await the next chapter which I hope to have out in less than a week.**

_**Preview:**_

_"What are you doing on the floor?" The boy with the stormy grey eyes asked._

_"Oh," she said, not entirely focusing on the conversation, "I fell into this crouching position, see."_

_"Yes, I _can_ see." He drawled and added, with a tinge of disgust lacing his voice, "And you are in that manner because?"_

_"I'm looking for a toad."_

_He opened his mouth, in which a scream was emitted._


End file.
